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Steer for the Third Star on the Left
The above is a quote from one of the Star Trek ™ movies, which one escapes me. This is a simple set of star ship rules for use with any miniatures, and in any universe. They use power allocation, vector movement, and limited intelligence to reflect the problems of commanding squadrons of star ship in combat. There are two alternatives when designing ships, and a large selection of optional rules has been included. Damage has been kept fairly simple, whilst reflecting the ability of craft to absorb huge amounts of damage without any visible effect. This allows considerable use of limited intelligence, particularly if there is an umpire or players trust each other. The emphasis is on Fire Control, or the electronics used to target systems on to hostile elements. Other than this the rules have drawn heavily on "Thousand Parsec Boot" , by me, "Full Thrust" by John Tuffly, "Twice a Knight", by myself, and "Fast and Furious" by Ian Clarke. The last two are naval rules, and have been borrowed to an extent for procedures. Ship design comes primarily form Thousand Parsec Boots, whilst the vector movement system is from both Full Thrust and Thousand Parsec Boots. Designer: Ian Shaw Steer for the Third Star on the Left Campaign Rules The following sections cover the rules needed to set up a simple campaign, including star system design, planetary assault, and certain exotic weapons such as "Dinosaurs Killers". Remember that military actions take place for a reason, and those of navies, which is the service closest to star fleets, are either to control specific areas, or protect merchant vessels. Almost all such actions have taken close to land, in these rules planetary systems, as this is where the enemy can be found. Even here there is a vast area to look at, many millions of cubic kilometres. Star system design can be used for one off battles, or to generate a section of a galaxy. Keep it fairly small, in realistic terms just a sector of one arm of a galaxy will be too large. This could be the frontier between two rival empires, such as the infamous "neutral zone" of Star Trek, or the sector of space controlled by a planet settled by several warring power blocks. The third alternative is the explanation game, where players control different systems, and start to expand outwards. This also requires the use of the Neutral generation section. In this form of game the umpire will need to generate the whole playing area, and until contact can be played postal. The rules for ship weapon maintenance and supply of fuel and ammunition have already been covered, in the first section. These are expanded to cover other consumables and engine maintenance. It is also unlikely that the crews will agree to spend Sol years shipboard unless the circumstances are very special, and even less likely that the atmosphere and water recyclers would cope with this. The system section draws heavily on a booklet published by the now defunct "Dodo Publications" in 1981, INTERSTELLAR WARFARE 2. The Campaign, and also the Shareware game Star Empires, I acknowledge my debts to their anonymous authors. Designer: Ian Shaw Link to Rules Main Rules Open Document Main Rules PDF Campaign Rules Open Document Campaign Rules PDF Category:Science Fiction Category:Spaceship